Governor Ifeanyi Okowa  has urged Delta residents to regularly use insecticide-treated nets distributed across the state to protect them from mosquito bites.

Mr Okowa made the call on Wednesday in Asaba, at a ceremony marking the distribution of free insecticide-treated nets.

The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Fidelis Tilije, said though malaria was preventable, it remained a major public health challenge in Africa.

According to him, Nigeria accounts for 25 per cent of malaria cases which result in about 30 per cent of deaths of children under five years of age.

Mr Okowa said malaria accounted for 25 per cent of deaths at birth of infants and 11 per cent of maternal mortality.

He added that mosquitoes harboured the parasites that cause malaria and infested anopheles mosquitoes breed freely around and easily transmit the disease from person to person.

“This calls for more concerted effort at its control and elimination and underscores the need to leverage on the support of the roll back malaria partners of the Global Fund for Malaria,” he said.

The governor said it was investing in various plans to ensure that the malaria scourge would be eliminated in Delta by giving prophylaxis to pregnant women.

He further stated that his administration also conducted prompt case management, using the test and treatment strategy and the distribution of 3.7 million insecticide treated nets.

Mr Okowa said this would help to reduce the scourge and contact between mosquitoes and humans to the barest minimum and urged the people to collect the nets and use them appropriately as instructed, to achieve the government’s objective of eradicating malaria in the state.

(NAN)